New Deal 
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SOURCE: New York Times
2/10/2021
The New Deal’s Capitalist Lessons for Joe Biden
by Louis Hyman
An economic historian argues that the greatest impact of the New Deal came from programs that guided the investment of private capital to social ends, rather than direct expenditure on public works.
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2/7/2021
History (and Historians) Need a New Deal
by Shannan Clark
Only a program of direct public employment for historians, along with other academics, can lead to a vibrant future for the discipline in which access to careers is expanded, with greater diversity and equity. The history of the WPA cultural projects shows us the way.
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SOURCE: Bloomberg CityLab
1/18/2021
The Next New Deal Must Be for Black Americans, Too
by Willow Lung-Amam
Those advocating for New Deal-type programs from the Biden-Harris administration must be profoundly aware of the way the first New Deal accommodated racial prejudice and deepened material inequality; any acceptable understanding of "build back better" must actively tackle racial inequality as well as protecting the existing middle class.
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1/12/2021
Lessons for Today from FDR and the Progressives?
by Walter G. Moss
Drawing lessons for Joe Biden's fraught entry to the presidency from FDR requires considering some unexpected virtues like empathy and humor.
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SOURCE: Boston Review
12/9/2020
How Did the GOP Become the Party of Ideas?
by Lawrence B. Glickman
The Republican Party's reputation as the "Party of Ideas" in the late 1970s and 1980s was generally created by Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who derided the New Deal and Great Society as stale and outdated in a struggle to push the Democratic Party to the right.
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SOURCE: The New Republic
11/18/2020
An FDR-Size Executive Order for Biden
by Thomas Geoghegan
Joseph Biden should issue an executive order requiring federal contracts go to firms with collective bargaining agreements in place, boosting wages, strengthening organized labor, and stimulating economic recovery.
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SOURCE: Esoteric Political History
11/3/2020
When Black Voters Went Blue
Leah Wright Rigeur discusses the process by which Black voters shifted from loyal Republicans to Democrats.
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11/1/2020
Reconsidering "Court Packing" as Restoring Governing Norms
by Greg Bailey
The Republicans' choice to push through Amy Coney Barrett's nomination with the backing of a minority of the country means a new Congress must consider corrective action in the name of justice and democracy.
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SOURCE: Mother Jones
10/26/2020
How About Reviving the Civilian Conservation Corps?
Joe Biden has proposed something akin to the CCC if elected: the Civilian Climate Corps. Workers would manage forests, restore ecosystems, and even remove invasive species.
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10/25/2020
FDR Was Right to Propose Enlarging the Court
by James D. Robenalt
Franklin Roosevelt's error in 1937 was not to propose expanding the court, it was to fail to explain and defend his popular political reasons for doing so.
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SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
9/4/2020
The Depression-Era Lessons That Can Solve Today’s Evictions Crisis
by Anya Jabour
Social workers and researchers Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge conducted an important study of evictions in Chicago during the Great Depression and advocated for federal support for a minimum standard of living including housing. The looming eviction crisis demands similar big thinking.
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SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
8/31/2020
Millions of Young Men Toiled in FDR’s ’Tree Army’ to Help End the Great Depression. Could it Work Again?
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon are introducing legislation for a revived version of the New Deal-Era Civilian Conservation Corps, seeking to create jobs in forestry, parks, and land conservation.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
8/21/2020
Searching for America's 1930s Post Office Murals: A Photoessay
Photographer Justin Hamel is about a quarter of the way to photographing 1,200 New Deal-era murals in post offices across the United States.
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SOURCE: NBC10Boston
8/10/2020
A Public Arts Program for Racial Reconciliation? (video)
A group of cultural organizations calls for a "New Deal" to support community arts and cultural organizations as a key part of advancing racial justice and reconciliation.
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SOURCE: The American Prospect
7/31/2020
When Henry Wallace Warned of ‘American Fascism’
John Nichols's new book argues that Franklin Roosevelt's decision to cut loose Vice President Henry Wallace crippled egalitarian politics in the Democratic Party with lasting consequences.
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SOURCE: New York Times
7/30/2020
The Future of American Liberalism
Columnist David Brooks looks to historians of the New Deal era to suggest Joe Biden can succeed like FDR by offering an active but pragmatic plan to pull America out of the hole created by the coronavirus pandemic.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
8/3/2020
Stop Worrying about Protecting ‘Taxpayers.’ That Isn’t the Government’s Job.
by Lawrence B. Glickman
"Taxpayerism has perverted our political culture by denying the existence of a common good — or, perhaps, more accurately, by falsely defining that good, and even freedom itself, as low taxes for the rich and for corporations."
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SOURCE: LitHub
7/29/2020
Once Upon a Time, When America Paid Its Writers
In Jason Boog’s new book, "The Deep End," he offers colorful and often grim profiles of nine Depression-era writers and connects their stories to the struggles that writers face today. Even before our current economic crisis, it was a depressingly apt comparison.
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SOURCE: Newsday
7/27/2020
Wanted: A Civilian Coronavirus Corps
by Jonathan Zimmerman
We already have a template for it: the original CCC.
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SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
7/22/2020
A Job Guarantee Costs Far Less Than Unemployment
The bold policy for not just weathering the crisis, but coming out better.
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